Obama to campaign for Democrats in New Jersey, Virginia governor races

With Election Day in New Jersey and Virginia’s very competitive and combustible races for governor just two weeks away, Democrats are bringing in one of their party’s best campaign trail closers.

Former President Barack Obama will headline rallies in New Jersey and Virginia — the only two states in the nation to hold gubernatorial contests the year after a presidential election — on Nov. 1, the Saturday before Election Day.

For Democrats, who are aiming to escape the political wilderness after last year’s stunning election setbacks when they lost the White House and Senate majority and fell short in winning back the House, the 2025 ballot box showdowns are their first major shot at redemption, and they hope that Obama’s two-state swing will energize their base voters.

But for the former president, whose crowning domestic achievement — the Affordable Care Act, which is better known as Obamacare — is front-and-center in the current federal government shutdown and a top issue on the 2025 campaign trail, his return to the campaign trail is also about protecting his legacy.

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“President Obama reminds us what we can accomplish when we leaders are unafraid to take on big challenges to deliver,” New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikiee Sherrill said in a statement. “He led historic efforts to insure millions of Americans and lower healthcare costs.”

And taking aim at the GOP nominee in the race, Sherrill argued, “The contrast couldn’t be clearer. Jack Ciattarelli is supporting Trump’s attacks on New Jersey, from terminating the Gateway Tunnel Project to kicking hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans off their healthcare. I am so grateful to have President Obama’s support and endorsement in this race as we harness our momentum to mobilize New Jerseyans to vote.”

Sherrill, who appears to be barreling towards an Election Day photo finish with Ciattarelli, announced on Tuesday that Obama will headline a rally with her in Newark, N.J., on Nov. 1.

And former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee in Virginia who’s facing off against Republican rival Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle Sears, announced that the former president would headline a rally with her that same day, in Norfork, Virginia.

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“Virginia’s elections are some of the most important in the country this year, and I am proud to endorse Abigail Spanberger for Governor. Republican policies are raising costs on working families so billionaires can get massive tax cuts,” Obama said in a statement.

Spanberger and Earle-Sears are running to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin. State law in Virginia bars incumbent governors from serving a second consecutive four-year term.

Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, left, and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee. (Pool/Getty Images)

In New Jersey, polls suggest Ciattarelli is closing the gap with Sherrill in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

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Ciattarelli’s campaign claimed that Obama’s upcoming appearance on the New Jersey campaign trail is a sign of weakness for the Democrats.

“National and New Jersey Democrats are in full-blown panic. At this point, we expect them to import anyone they think can excite Democrats because Mikie Sherrill excites no one,” Ciattarelli campaign chief strategist Chris Russell argued in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Ciattarelli, who’s making his third straight run for Garden State governor and who nearly upset Murphy four years ago, has good reason to be optimistic he can pull off victory in blue-leaning New Jersey.

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill, right and Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli, on the stage moments at the start of their second and final debate, on Oct. 8, 2025, in New Brunswick, N.J. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News Digital)

In a state where registered Democrats still outnumber Republicans despite a GOP surge in registration this decade, three public opinion polls released last week — from Fox News, Quinnipiac University and Fairleigh Dickinson University — indicated Ciattarelli gaining ground.

The Fox News poll conducted Oct. 10 – 14, put Sherrill at 50% support among likely voters, with Ciattarelli at 45%. Sherrill’s 5-point advantage was down from an 8-point lead in Fox News’ September survey in New Jersey.

While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the past 10 elections.

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And President Donald Trump made major gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election, losing the state by only six percentage points, a major improvement over his 16-point deficit four years earlier.

Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump will hold a tele-rally with Ciattarelli ahead of Election Day.

Trump, on Monday night, took to social media to tout that “Jack is a man who will bring costs and prices down, rapidly, but in particular, energy costs, because he knows that everything else will follow.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate in Ohio Vivek Ramaswamy headlines a campaign event for New Jersey GOP nominee for governor Jack Ciattarelli, on Oct. 15, 2025, in Saddle Brook, N.J. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Last week, Ciattarelli was joined at a jam-packed diner stop in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, by Vivek Ramaswamy, the MAGA rock star who is running for governor next year in his home state of Ohio. 

And this week another well-known Republican politician in MAGA world is headed to New Jersey. Fox News learned the Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, a top House ally of the president who has Trump’s backing as he runs next year for Florida governor, will team up with Ciattarelli on Wednesday.

The stops by the high-profile surrogates and Trump’s tele-rally may help Ciattarelli energize MAGA supporters, many of whom are low propensity voters who often skip casting ballots in non-presidential election years.

It’s the same story for the Democrats. 

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie of New Jersey, left, teams up on the campaign trail with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, in Newark, N.J. on Oct. 19, 2025. (Mikie Sherrill campaign )

Sherrill had plenty of company on the campaign trail this past weekend from major Democratic Party surrogates, including two of the biggest names in the party — Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Wes Moore of Maryland — who are considered potential 2028 White House contenders.

And with Obama, Sherrill and Spanberger are landing the most popular and most well-known Democrat in the nation.

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According to a Gallup poll conducted in January, Obama had a 59% favorable rating among Americans, higher than any other living former president.

And among Democrats, Obama’s favorable rating stood at 96%.